• Mission Statement
• Basic Standards and Rules
• Cataloging Priorities
• Statistics
• Processing Department
• Faculty and Staff Notification

Mission Statement
The purpose of the Cataloging Department at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls is to support the teaching and research programs of the University by providing and maintaining access to all formats of scholarly information. The department provides searchable access to this information and preserves the physical and intellectual integrity of the library’s collections.

Basic Standards and Rules

• All formats of scholarly information includes:

o Books and Textbooks
o Serials (all formats – Microforms, Print, Electronic)
o Visual Materials (Videos, DVDs)
o CDs and CD-ROMs
o Musical Scores
o Sound Recordings (includes musical and non-musical recordings and audio books on CDs or cassettes)
o Maps and other Cartographic Materials
o Government Documents (State of Wisconsin and Federal Documents)
o Licensed Reference/Periodical Databases
o Web Sites

• All items to be cataloged in the main collection must first be approved by the Collection Development Librarian to be added to the collection.  Serials Titles and government documents are added at the direction of the Head of Technical Services/Government Information, Reference materials at the direction of the Head of Reference, and materials for the Area Research Center/University Archives by the Head of Area Research Center and University Archives. 

• All items ordered by the Collection Development Department will have a brief bibliographic record designating the title (following OCLC/AACR capitalization rules), author in inverted order, date of publication and ISBN if known. This brief record will be added to the library’s catalog by the Acquisitions Department.

• All items will come from the Acquisitions Department and will be placed on the appropriate shelf in the Cataloging Department. These shelves indicate an item’s placement in a particular collection.

• All items received by the Cataloging Department will have a full bibliographic record, either through copy cataloging or original cataloging, added to the library’s catalog. These records will be edited for correctness according to North American cataloging standards. For more information, consult the Cataloging Department’s Procedures Manual for details on how each item is to be processed. Exception: Government Documents will receive a provisional record – see the Procedures Manual for details.

• Moreover, the Cataloging Department is responsible for the general maintenance and clean-up of the online public access catalog (Voyager). This maintenance includes (but is not limited to): resolving barcode problems, creating new call number labels, deleting records for lost or withdrawn items, closing ceased titles for serials, adding records for new serial titles, and correcting pre-AACR2 records. Also the Cataloging Department is responsible for adding and correcting authority records for all personal or corporation names, all series titles, and all subject headings.

• North American cataloging standards and formats will be followed for all cataloging records. These include (but are not limited to):

o Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (newest version)
o MARC 21 formats and code lists
o Library of Congress Rule Interpretations
o Subject Cataloging Manual
o Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
o CONSER Cataloging Manual and Editing Guide
o ANSI/NISO Z39.71-1999

• Additionally, the department will use the Library of Congress Classification System and Cutter Tables to classify all materials. Periodicals/Journals are an exception to this rule as they are arranged alphabetically, and items such as Web Sites or Databases will not require classification numbers as they do not have individual items attached to the record.

• Items to be withdrawn from the collection will be determined by the Collection Development Librarian. The Cataloging Department will follow the guidelines outlined in the policy “Procedures for Handling Materials Lost by Patrons, Lost and Paid for by Patrons, Missing or Damaged” for removing items from the library’s catalog.

• Moreover, items in need of major repair will be examined by the Collection Development Librarian to determine if the item should be repaired, withdrawn, or reordered.

Cataloging Priorities
All items will be completely processed within one month of receipt by the Cataloging Department with the exception of Reserve and Rush materials (2 days) and items lacking proper OCLC records*. Materials will be processed with the following priorities in mind:

1. Reserve materials
2. Rush materials
3. Reference – including CMC Ref, Gov Doc Ref, Gov Ref, Reference books that are Standing Orders
4. New Serials – including Licensed Journals/Databases
5. Replacements
6. New Materials – Formats in this category include: Books, Government Documents, materials for the Archives, materials for the CMC Collection, videos, DVDs, CDs, CD-ROMs, maps and other cartographic materials, standing orders that are shelved in the main stacks, and Web Sites. These items will be processed in date order (oldest will be processed first) with additional preference given to items ordered by University faculty over those items ordered by library staff. Alternating between the various formats will be left to each individual cataloger’s discretion, keeping in mind that all materials should be processed within one month of receipt by the department.
7. Gift Materials
8. Collections/items not yet cataloged – these items include materials from government documents, archives, or other areas where the items are physically in the library but have not yet been properly cataloged

*Items lacking proper OCLC records will be placed on a designated shelf in the department’s area. On each Monday, the item(s) will be checked for a proper OCLC record. If a record has not been created in OCLC within two months since the item was received by the Cataloging Department, an original record will be created for the item in OCLC. Exception: If the item is a government document, the wait time for checking in OCLC will be three months. After three months, cataloging staff will create a provisional record as dictated in the Cataloging Department Procedures Manual.

Statistics
All members of the Cataloging Department will retain statistics on the number and type of materials added to the library’s catalog in a given month.

Processing Department
The Cataloging Department oversees the Processing Department students who add call number labels, date due slips and any additional labels/notes to the items. The students also stamp and secure each item. In addition, the Processing Department handles all repairs for the library.

Faculty and Staff Notification
All faculty and staff members will receive an e-mail notifying them that the item(s) they ordered have been processed by the Cataloging and Processing Departments and are available for use. The student assistants and student workers in the Processing Department will take care of this task. Instructions for this process are found in the Student Manual for the Cataloging Department.

Cataloging Department Policies
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Chalmer Davee Library
Drafted: June 2005